The Mermaid Song- Lunsford (NC) 1897 REC
[From Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina by Bascom Lamar Lunsford SFW40082. Lunsford says on his Folkways recording, "This is 'The Mermaid Song' as I heard it as a boy about 15 years old."
R. Matteson 2014]
The Mermaid Song- Lunsford circa 1897
(Listen: "The Mermaid Song")
One stormy night when we set sail
We was not far from the land,
When the captain spied a pretty merry maid [1]
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
CHORUS: Oh, the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping to the top
And the landlubbers lie down below, below, below,
And the landlubbers lie down below.
Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a well spoken man was he;
"I have married me a wife in Salem town,
Tonight she a widow will be."
CHORUS
Then up spoke the mate of our gallant ship, [2]
And a well-spoken man was he;
"I have a married me a wife in Salem town
But tonight they childless will be."
CHORUS
Then up spoke the cook of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken cook was he;
"I care much more for my kettles and my pots
Than I do for the depths of the sea."
CHORUS
Then three times around went our gallant ship,
And three times around went she;
Three times around went our gallant ship,
And she sank to the depths of the sea.
CHORUS
1. He sings "pretty merry maid" but it probably should be or once was "pretty mermaid," otherwise, there's no mermaid in the song. It may be that he (or the person he learned it from) pronounced mermaid, "merimaid." Lunsford obviously knew what the song was about. See also Tillett 1922 (Brown C) and Davis F.
2. He stumbles here to remember.